I have an NOS '80s Gretsch snare that I gave the bunnyman treatment to. She got a good Rogering, er, um going over...
This snare is a "pry it from my cold, dead fingers" drum. There were times I just didn't like her. She had waaaaaaay too much gaffer's tape on her with a Powerstroke 3 head. I tried a CS for grins, and I liked the way it sounded when I hit the centre of the head (imagine that).
Fast forward to Tuesday night- I decided to use an Evans Hazy medium weight head (500) on the bottom, and a reverse centre-dot coated batter. For the most part, I was liking the sound; however, to kill the ring, she needed to be tuned to an INSANELY high note...
So, I get her lower. I like everything but the resulting ring. I had a piece of looped Gaffer's tape. It killed the personality of the snare drum. However, it just came to me: I have some cork contact paper scraps. I don't know why cork seemed to be a good idea...
I used 4 1.5"x1.5" pieces between the tension rods on the outer edge. This just killed the ring enough to not be annoying, but kept the general character of the drum intact. There was just enough ring to not make me nuts. The snares don't buzz sympathetically when I hit the toms whether it is with my 13 x 9" rack, 16 x 15" and 18" x 16" floors Premier kit or my 12x11" rack, 13x12" and 14x13" "floor" toms!!!
I should probably try everything I can to document how I did this so that I remember and can replicate this sound EVERY time!!!!